Of all of Disney’s live-action (and “live-action”) remakes, Aladdin has faced particularly heavy skepticism—regarding its casting, its reported use of white performers in select roles, and of course, Will Smith’s Genie, who will be blue sometimes, but not . . . all the time?

There’s a lot going on here that might give fans of the original 1992 animated film pause—and Smith, whose character has become a lightning rod for debate, knows that perhaps better than anyone. So when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Monday, the actor paid requisite homage to the original genie, Robin Williams, before offering a carefully selected taste of what he brings to the table.

When he was first asked to play the Genie, Smith told Fallon, his initial reaction was strong: “Hell, no!” (Longtime Smith fans can probably guess the exact intonation with which he said those two words.) “It’s like, Robin Williams smashed that role,” Smith said, “and when you look at things like that, you always try to find, like, what would you do differently? What would you add to that?”

But eventually, Smith said he found the answer to that question. After meeting with director Guy Ritchie, Smith began playing with the film’s music—and when he got to “Friend Like Me,” Smith said he had a revelation. He sampled the drum beat from the Honeydrippers’ “Impeach the President,” and from there, it all came together—as a rap. Smith went ahead and demonstrated a brief piece of the song for an enthusiastic Fallon, presumably giving fans a taste of what’s ahead.

We’ve seen a brief clip from that moment when Aladdin first meets Genie in one of the film’s trailers, but Smith’s rap more fully presents what we can expect from his character, at least musically. Fallon also rolled a longer version of a clip from the film fans might have noticed in trailers—when Genie and Aladdin first discuss Aladdin’s wish to become a prince. Genie urges our titular street rat to be a little more specific with his wishes—which, as anyone who’s watched a wish-based film before knows, is pretty solid advice. We’ll see if Smith’s efforts to ease nervous fans’ minds have any effect, but one thing is clear: this Genie will have some Big Hitch Energy.